Systems and methods for managing a cargo transaction

ABSTRACT

Devices, systems, and methods for managing a cargo transaction are disclosed. By transmitting and integrating consignment data and real-time cargo status data including data collected from a GPS-enabled monitoring device to a visual cargo server, a visual cargo data is produced. The visual cargo data is contextualized by integrating with contextual data obtained from one or more contextual servers.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/684,042filed on Nov. 21, 2012 which claims priority to Indian patentapplication No. 1368/CHE/2012, filed on Apr. 4, 2012, the fulldisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to managing cargo transactions.In particular, the present disclosure relates to network-based systemsand methods that allow various parties involved in a cargo shippingtransaction to monitor cargo data to enhance real time visibility,transparency, safety, and productivity.

Generally, multiple parties participate in a cargo transaction where atransporter party receives cargo from a consignor and the transporter istasked to deliver the cargo to a consignee. For example, a consignor ofmerchandise may wish to have cargo shipped to a receiver or multiplereceivers, which in some cases may be the direct consignee. Theconsignor may also wish to have cargo shipped from one consignorlocation to a second consignor location. A storage facility such as awarehouse which is not owned by or affiliated with the consignor maystore the cargo prior to shipment. The consignor or consignee may hire atransporter such as a trucking company to ship the cargo. Thetransporter may ship the cargo from a consignor site or a non-supplierwarehouse to another consignor site, a consignee (e.g., a receivingparty not associated with a consignor), or a warehouse not associatedwith the supplier or the consignee. A transporter typically owns,operates or is associated with a fleet of vehicles used for shipping,and the size of such a fleet may range from one or a few vehicles tohundreds or thousands. Furthermore, a transporter may be a third partyfreight forwarder, which does not own or operate its own vehicles, butrather hires other carriers to ship goods on one time or long term basis

Currently, cargo transaction data, such as data related to cargo pickup, latest status of the cargo location and delivery confirmation isoften dependent on a transporter to inform the consignee and theconsignor. Furthermore, the transporter may rely on drivers to updatethe status of the transaction. Because of the involvement of multipleentities in the transport ecosystem the cargo transaction data may beinaccurate, delayed and/or filtered.

Particularly, a consignor that ships thousands of different cargos fromvarious locations or warehouses to various consignees using multipletransporters typically finds it desirable to easily and accuratelymonitor the cargo transaction data.

SUMMARY

Devices, systems, and methods for managing a cargo transaction aredisclosed.

In one aspect, a computer implemented method for managing a cargotransaction comprises the steps of transmitting consignment data to avisual cargo server; tracking cargo status data of a vehicle responsiblefor delivering the cargo, wherein the at least some of the cargo statusdata comprises data collected from a GPS-enabled monitoring device;transmitting the cargo status data via a wireless network to the visualcargo server, wherein the visual cargo server integrates the consignmentdata and the cargo status data to produce virtual cargo data;transmitting contextual data to the visual cargo server; providing acontext to the virtual cargo data by integrating the virtual cargo datawith the contextual data; and presenting the contextualized visual cargodata to a user.

In another aspect, a computer implemented method of managing a cargotransaction comprising the steps of transmitting consignment data to avisual cargo server; tracking cargo status data of a vehicle responsiblefor delivering the cargo, wherein the at least some of the cargo statusdata comprises data collected from a GPS-enabled monitoring device;transmitting the cargo status data via a wireless network to the visualcargo server, wherein the visual cargo server integrates the consignmentdata and the cargo status data to produce virtual cargo data;transmitting the visual cargo data to a contextual server comprisingcontextual data, wherein the contextual server is configured to providea context to the virtual cargo data by integrating the virtual cargodata with the contextual data; and presenting the contextualized visualcargo data to a user.

In yet another aspect, a system for monitoring a cargo transactioncomprises a visual cargo server for receiving real time location andcargo status information over a wireless communication network; amonitoring device associated with the cargo, wherein the monitoringdevice comprises a processor for controlling operation of the device; aGPS circuit for receiving GPS data. The system for monitoring a cargotransaction further comprises a wireless communication modem and antennain communication with the processor for transmitting GPS location datato the visual cargo server; wherein the visual cargo server isconfigured to obtain consignment data and integrate said consignmentdata with the GPS data to produce a visual cargo data and tocontextualize said visual cargo data with contextual data.

This, and further aspects of the present embodiments are set forthherein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention has other advantages and features which will be morereadily apparent from the following detailed description of theinvention and the appended claims, when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram showing one exemplary existing cargotransaction system.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the cargo transaction managementsystem

FIG. 3A illustrates one embodiment of a user-interface presented theuser.

FIG. 3B illustrates one embodiment of a user-interface using a GISsoftware.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram showing one embodiment of a method ofmanaging a cargo transaction.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a user-interface showing graphicalrepresentations of a cargo transaction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the invention has been disclosed with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt to a particular situation or materialto the teachings of the invention without departing from its scope.

Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take themeanings explicitly associated herein unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. The meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” include pluralreferences. The meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.” Referring to thedrawings, like numbers indicate like parts throughout the views.Additionally, a reference to the singular includes a reference to theplural unless otherwise stated or inconsistent with the disclosureherein.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as advantageous overother implementations.

The present disclosure describes devices, systems, and methods formanaging cargo transactions. Specifically, the present disclosurecontemplates devices, systems, and methods for contextualized managementof a cargo transaction by collecting, integrating, monitoring cargotransaction data and to provide a context to the data based on a user'srole.

Referring now to FIG. 1, where an existing cargo transaction system isshown. Cargo transactions as described herein include any transactionsin which a source entity sends a cargo to a destination entity. Cargosmay be any goods or materials such as produce, mail, packages, cartons,containers, etc. The source entity may be a consignor 10 and thedestination entity may be a consignee 20. As used herein, the consignor10 and consignee 20 may be individuals, companies, business units,facilities, government entities, or other transaction participants.Typically, the consignor 10 sends the cargo to the consignee 20 usingone or more transporter 30, where the transporter 30 may be engaged bythe consignor 10 or the consignee 20 to pick up, transport, deliver,and/or otherwise facilitate the cargo transaction. For example, thetransporter 30 may be charged with delivering the cargo that initiallyresides at a source location to a destination location wherein thesource and/or the destination locations may be a warehouse, storagefacility, retail store, residence, and the like. The transporter 30 maybe an independent entity such as logistics service provider with noaffiliation with the consignor 10 or the consignee 20. Alternatively,the transporter 30 may be affiliated with the consignor 10 and/or theconsignee 20. The transporter 30 may be a subsidiary, a unit of, whollyor partly owned or operated by, or a contractor of the consignor 10and/or the consignee 20.

The transporter 30 may use one or more motorized vehicles to transportthe cargo. The term “vehicle” as used in this disclosure includesmotorized vehicles including trucks, tractors, trailers, containers,cars, trains, ships, boats, and the like, as well as other assets suchas heavy equipment, and similar assets. Additionally or alternatively,the term “vehicle” may include one or more non-motorized vehicles totransport the cargo. Exemplary non-motorized means include bicycles,human carriers, etc.

The transporter 30 may comprise sub-units including operator 31 such aslogistic service provider that receives transport requests from andcommunicates with the consignor and/or the consignee, the operator 31may operate as a cargo forwarder, wherein the operator 31 does not ownor operate its own vehicles, but rather hires a fleet owner 33 whichowns and manages the vehicles used to transport the cargo. Optionally, abroker 32 may mediate the communication between the operator 31 and thefleet owner 33. The fleet owner 33 may in turn employ driver 34 who isresponsible for operating the vehicle and/or the physical delivery ofthe cargo.

In the existing cargo transaction system, the consigner 10 and/or theconsignee 20 may be dependent on the transporter to inform the status ofthe cargo. The transporter in turn may be dependent on the one of thesub-units to inform the status of the cargo. For example, transporter 30may obtain the real-time location of the cargo by inquiring via thesub-units—i.e., the broker 32 inquires the fleet owner 33 who theninquires the driver 34. Alternatively, the transporter 30 may providethe driver information directly to the consignor 10 and/or the consignee20, and the consignor and the consignee may inquire the driver 34directly i.e., by calling the driver 34 for the latest status of thecargo. Given the multiple entities involved in the cargo transactionsystem, it may be difficult for the consignor or the consignee to obtaintransparent real-time data on the status of the cargo. Furthermore, thecargo data transmitted to the consignor 10 and/or the consignee 20 lackscontextual data that would render the cargo data within the context ofthe consignor, consignee, and/or the transporter.

The present disclosure contemplates a novel cargo transaction managementdevice, method, and system that collects and integrates various cargotransaction data including consignment data and real-time cargo statusdata to produce visual cargo data that is then transmitted to a user,wherein the user may be a consignor, transporter, consignee, or anotherentity. Specifically, in one embodiment, the visual cargo data istransmitted to a context database whereby the context database selects acontext for the visual cargo data; thereafter, the contextualized visualcargo data may be presented to a user.

Referring now to FIG. 2, where one embodiment of the cargo transactionmanagement system is shown. As seen in FIG. 2, the cargo transactionsystem comprises a visual cargo application server 100 that isconfigured to obtain or receive cargo data from various sources.Although the visual cargo application server 100 is shown exemplarily asone server, it is contemplated that multiple visual cargo applicationservers 100 may be used. It is further contemplated that the multiplevisual cargo application servers 100 may be distributed over multiplelocations.

The visual cargo application server 100 may comprise various componentsincluding but not limited to a processing unit (CPU), memory unit, videoor display interface, network interface, input/output interface and busthat connect the various units and interfaces. The network interfaceenables the visual cargo application server 100 to connect to theInternet and/or other network.

The memory unit of the visual cargo application server 100 may compriserandom access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electronic erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), and basic input/output system(BIOS). The memory unit may further comprise other storage units such asnon-volatile storage including magnetic disk drives, flash memory andthe like.

The network interface of the visual cargo application server 100 maydirectly or indirectly communicate with one or more networks such as theexemplary cellular network 110 through a base station, a router, switch,other computing devices, and/or networks. In one embodiment, the networkinterface may be configured to utilize various communication protocolssuch as PSTN, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, Bluetooth, ZigBee, HSPA,LTE, WiMAX, and the like. The network interface may be furtherconfigured to utilize user datagram protocol (UDP), transport controlprotocol (TCP), Wi-Fi, satellite links and various other communicationprotocols, technologies, or methods. Furthermore, the network interfacemay be configured to utilize analog telephone lines (dial-upconnection), digital lines (T1, T2, T3, T4 and the like), DigitalSubscriber lines (DSL) and the like.

The visual cargo application server 100 further comprises an operatingsystem and other applications such as database programs including a datamanager that is configured to store and manage data such as consignmentdata, real-time data, geographic data, contextual data, etc., hyper texttransport protocol (HTTP) programs, user-interface programs, IPSec.programs, VPN programs, account management programs, and web serviceprograms, and the like.

The visual cargo application server 100 is configured to obtainreal-time cargo status data while the cargo is in transit in a vehicle130. As referred to herein, real-time data includes cargo data that areobtained on a real-time, near real-time or periodic basis. In oneembodiment, real-time cargo status data may include real-time vehicledata including the location of the cargo, the speed of the cargo,distance of the cargo from the consignor and/or consignee, and the like.

At least some of the real-time cargo status data may be obtained fromone or more GPS satellites 120 which communicate with one or moreGPS-enabled monitoring device 131 disposed on the vehicle 130 and/or thecargo or otherwise associated with the cargo. In one embodiment, themonitoring device 131 comprises one or more processor for controllingoperation of the device and a global positioning system (GPS) circuitfor receiving GPS location data. In one embodiment, the monitoringdevice 131 may be an automotive grade GPS device integrated with thevehicle. In such embodiment, the monitoring device 131 may optionallycomprise door sensors configured to detect when a vehicle door or hatchhave been opened or closed. Additionally, the monitoring device 131 maycomprise vehicle ignition sensors, and any other vehicle mountedsensors. Furthermore, various other sensors such as a RF reader,shock/vibration sensor, a temperature sensor, a radiation sensor, ahumidity sensor, a light sensor, a sound sensor, and a gas sensor may beused to collect real-time data related to the vehicle of the vehicle'ssurrounding. Additionally and optionally, the monitoring device 131 maycomprise data storage for recording a plurality of data received fromthe sensor and the GPS circuit, including a date and time, the cargolocation, and the sensed conditions or collected data from sensors.

In another embodiment, the monitoring device 131 may be a personal GPSunit or a device that comprises an embedded GPS circuit, such as a smartphone, PDA, laptop, and the like. In alternative embodiments, otherpositioning methods can be used in addition or instead of the GPSpositioning method, for example, a system comprising ground basedbeacons may be used.

In one embodiment, the monitoring device 131 comprises a networkinterface such as wireless communication modem and antenna is configuredto communicate with a wireless network 110 wherein the network interfaceis configured to transmit the real-time vehicle data to the visual cargoapplication server 100 via the a wireless network 110 using variousprotocols including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, Bluetooth, ZigBee,HSPA, LTE, WiMAX, and the like. Optionally, the wireless network 110 maytransmit the real-time vehicle data to the visual cargo applicationserver via another network, such as the Internet 150.

Optionally, in one embodiment, the real-time cargo status data may betransmitted to a fleet management application server 140. The fleetmanagement application server 140 may comprise various components suchas CPU, memory, network interface. Furthermore, the fleet managementapplication server 140 may comprise an operating system and otherapplications such as database programs including a data manager that isconfigured to store and manage data the GPS generated real-time cargostatus data. The fleet management application server 140 may comprisevarious programs configured to calculate, integrate, manage, present,and transmit the real-time vehicle data. For example, the fleetmanagement application server 140 may comprise hypertext transportprotocol (HTTP) programs, user-interface programs, IPSec. programs, VPNprograms, account management programs, and web service programs, and thelike.

The fleet management application server 140 may communicate with aplurality of vehicles with monitoring devices 131. Additionally oralternatively, the fleet management application server 140 maycommunicate with one or more additional fleet management applicationservers which then communicate with one or more vehicles. Furthermore,the fleet management application server 140 may receive additionalreal-time data such as real-time environmental data. The real-timeenvironmental data includes traffic data along the projected route ofthe cargo, the current weather condition, man-made and/or naturalincident data and the like that could impact the cargo transaction.Additional real-time data may be obtained from one or more databasesconnected to the fleet management application server 140 via one or morenetworks, such as the Internet. Additionally or alternatively, real-timeenvironmental data may be obtained from one or more satellites and/orsensors disposed on the vehicle or within the environment. The fleetmanagement application server 140 may then operate upon the real-timeenvironmental data with the real-time vehicle data and perform one ormore functions such as calculate, integrate, manage, present, andtransmit the real-time environmental data and/or the real-time vehicledata.

Additionally, the fleet management application server 140 may beconfigured to verify and/or store the real-time data. For example, thefleet management application server 140 may configured to verify whetherif the received real-time data is new or current, and updating therecorded real-time data if the data is new or current.

As seen in FIG. 2, the fleet management application server 140 isexemplarily shown as a discrete server; it is further contemplated thatthe multiple fleet management application servers may be used and themultiple servers may be distributed over multiple locations. It is alsonoted that some or all of the functions of the fleet managementapplication server 140 may be integrated within the visual cargoapplication server 100. In such embodiment, the visual cargo applicationserver 100 subsumes some or even all of the functions of the fleetmanagement application server 140 wherein the visual cargo applicationserver 100 communicates with the vehicles to obtain real-time vehicledata and/or additional database to obtain real-time environmental data.

The visual cargo application server 100 is configured to obtainconsignment data from one or more consignment databases via one or morenetworks, such as the Internet. In one embodiment, consignment dataincludes cargo data such as the type (fragile, perishable, toxic, etc.),weight, dimension, shape, and the like of the cargo. Additionally,consignment data may include cargo identification data such as cargoidentification number, Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) data,Barcode data, Quick Response (QR) Code data, High Capacity Color Barcode(HCCB), and the like. Furthermore, consignment data may includeoriginating location codes, originating location geo-codes, destinationcodes, destination geo-codes, type of the carrier vehicle, vehicleinformation, driver information, planned route, route code, scheduledpick up time, departure time, scheduled delivery time, estimateddelivery time, estimated distance, and the like.

The visual cargo application server 100 is configured to integrate theconsignment data and the real-time vehicle data and/or real-timeenvironmental data to compile visual cargo data. The visual cargo datamay comprise the expected time of delivery information that iscalculated dynamically or adjusted based on the real-time vehicle data(i.e., the vehicle's current position, the current and/or average speedof the vehicle, and the like) and/or the real-time environmental data(i.e., current traffic along the route, road condition, adverse weather,and the like). The expected time of delivery may be updated on areal-time, near real-time or periodic basis. In addition, the visualcargo data may comprise additional information such as vehicle's currentor projected position, its position on the scheduled route and routedeviation (If any). Various aspects of the visual cargo data may bepresented on a geographical map which may include plots of the actualroute taken by the vehicle along the planned route on the map.

In one embodiment, the visual cargo data may be associated with aparticular cargo. In another embodiment, the visual cargo data may beassociated with a particular shipment comprising multiple cargos. In yetanother embodiment, the visual cargo data may be associated with a cargotype such as a product type. Visual cargo data may be associated withmetadata such as identification number.

In one embodiment, the visual cargo application server 100 is furtherconfigured to communicate with one or more contextual servers 160. Thecontextual servers 160 are configured to access one or more end-userrelated databases such as one or more enterprise resource planningdatabases. In one embodiment, the contextual servers 160 is configuredto access a consignor database, where in one embodiment the consignordatabase comprises stock information, billing information, supplyinformation, and the like. In another embodiment, the contextual servers160 is configured to access a consignee database, where in oneembodiment the consignee data comprises stock information, billinginformation, order information, and the like. In yet another embodiment,the contextual servers 160 is configured to access a transporterdatabase, where in one embodiment, the transport database comprisesvehicle information such a vehicle's schedule, location of the nextcargo, number of vehicles deployed, vehicle performance information,driver performance information, and the like.

Based on the data provided by the one or more contextual servers 160,the visual cargo data may be contextualized to meet the needs of theend-user. For example, the visual cargo data may be integrated withconsignor contextual data such that visual cargo data may be presentedin the context of the consignor-centric information, such as how theestimated delivery information found in the visual cargo data willimpact the consignor supply or delivery of stock.

The visual cargo application server 100 may transmit the visual cargodata and/or the contextualized visual cargo data to at least one end-usedevice 170 via one or more networks. In one embodiment, the end-usedevice 170 may be desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers,personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, mobile phones, and thelike. Generally, the end-use device 170 may comprise a processing unit,memory unit, one or more network interfaces, video interface, audiointerface, and one or more input devices such as a keyboard, a keypad,or a touch screen. The input devices may also include auditory inputmechanisms such as a microphone, graphical or video input mechanisms,such as a camera and/or a scanner. The end-use device 170 may furthercomprise a power source that provides power to the end-use device 170including an AC adapter, rechargeable battery such as Lithium ionbattery or non-rechargeable battery.

In another embodiment, the visual cargo application server 100 isconfigured to transmit the visual cargo data to one or more contextualservers 160. In such embodiment, the contextual servers 160 areconfigured to contextualize the visual cargo data. Thereafter, thecontextualized visual cargo data may be transmitted to the visual cargoserver 100 and then transmitted to the end-use device 170.Alternatively, the contextual servers 160 may transmit thecontextualized visual cargo data and/or visual cargo data to the end-usedevice 170.

In one embodiment, the visual cargo data and/or the contextualizedvisual cargo data are transmitted to the end-use device 170 through theInternet. The various data may be presented on a user-interface asexemplarily seen in FIGS. 3A-3B. As seen in FIG. 3A, the user-interfacemay comprise various data such as trip identification, origin/dispatchlocation, destination/delivery location, dispatch date/time, currentlocation status, estimated time of arrival, etc. Furthermore, as seen inFIG. 3B, the user-interface may comprise a graphical display of thevisual cargo data, such as the planned route of the vehicle, actualroute of the vehicle, destination/delivery location, current vehiclelocation status and the like, which are presented to the user using aGraphical Information System (GIS) mapping software for graphicaldisplay of the cargo that is being tracked. The user-interface may beprovided by the visual cargo application server 100 as one or morewebpage displayed on the end-use device 170. Alternatively, theuser-interface may be presented to the end-use device 170 through adedicated application, a web widget, and the like.

In another embodiment, at least some portion of the visual cargo dataand/or the contextualized visual cargo data are transmitted to theend-use device 170 as SMS, email, a post made on micro-blogging website,and the like. For example, the visual cargo server 100 may be configuredto send out one or more alerts via as SMS, email, a post made on one ormore micro-blogging websites, and the like to the end-use device 170upon the occurrence of a specific event. For example, if the visualcargo data indicates that the cargo delivery will be delayed by onehour, the consignee may be alerted via a SMS. Furthermore, it iscontemplated that the visual cargo server 100 may relay visual cargodata, contextualized visual cargo data, and/or alerts automatically tothe end-use device 170, or it can be configured to be interrogated ondemand.

Referring now to FIG. 4, which shows a flow diagram illustrating thesteps of one exemplary operation of an embodiment of the presentsystems, devices, and methods. At step 200, real-time cargo status dataare obtained. As previously described, real-time data includes cargodata that are obtained on a real-time, near real-time or periodic basis.The real-time cargo status data may comprise real-time vehicle data suchas location of the cargo, the speed of the cargo, distance of the cargofrom the consignor and/or consignee, and the like. At step 201, at leastsome of the real-time cargo status data may be obtained from one or moreGPS satellites which communicate with one or more GPS-enabled monitoringdevice disposed on the vehicle, such as GPS vehicle mounted device,fitted on each vehicle to transmit the real-time vehicle data.Alternatively, the GPS-enabled monitoring device may be a personal GPSunit or a laptop computer, tablet computer, personal digital assistant(PDA), smart phone, mobile phone and the like that is embedded with aGPS unit.

The real-time cargo status data may comprise real-time environmentaldata. The real-time environmental data includes various data that couldimpact the cargo transaction such as traffic along the projected routeof the cargo, the current weather condition, road condition, man-madeincidents such as vehicular accidents, and/or natural incidents such asadverse weather. At step 202, the real-time environmental data may beobtained from one or more databases via one or more networks, such asthe Internet. Additionally or alternatively, the real-time environmentaldata may be obtained from one or more satellites and/or sensors disposedon the vehicle or within the environment.

At step 210, the real-time cargo status data comprising real-timeenvironmental data and/or the real-time vehicle data is transmitted to afleet management server that is configured to calculate, integrate,manage, present, and transmit the real-time cargo status data.

At step 220, the real-time status data is transmitted from the fleetmanagement server to the visual cargo application server. At step 230,consignment data is transmitted to the visual cargo application server.In one embodiment, consignment data includes cargo data such as the type(fragile, perishable, toxic, etc.), weight, dimension, shape, and thelike of the cargo. Additionally, consignment data may include cargoidentification data such as cargo identification number, RadiofrequencyIdentification (RFID) data, Barcode data, Quick Response (QR) Code data,High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB), and the like. Furthermore,consignment data may include origin, destination, type of the carriervehicle, vehicle information, driver information, planned route,scheduled pick up time, scheduled delivery time, estimated deliverytime, estimated distance, and the like. The consignment data may beobtained from one or more consignment databases via one or morenetworks, such as the Internet.

At step 240, contextual data is transmitted to the visual cargoapplication data. In one embodiment, the contextual data is obtainedfrom one or more contextual servers that are configured to access one ormore end-user related databases such as one or more enterprise resourceplanning databases. In one embodiment, the contextual server 160 isconfigured to access a consignor database where consignor databasecomprises stock information, billing information, supply information,and the like. In another embodiment, the contextual server is configuredto access a consignee database, where in one embodiment the consigneedata comprises stock information, billing information, orderinformation, planned cargo usage, and the like. In yet anotherembodiment, the contextual server is configured to access a transporterdatabase, where in one embodiment, the transport database comprisesvehicle information such a vehicle's schedule, location of the nextcargo, number of vehicles deployed, vehicle performance information, theage and the model of the vehicle, driver-related information, driverperformance information, route performance information, and the like.

At step 250, the visual cargo application server is configured tointegrate the consignment data and the real-time vehicle data and/orreal-time environmental data to compile a visual cargo data. The visualcargo data may comprise the expected time of delivery information thatis adjusted based on the real-time vehicle data (i.e., the vehicle'scurrent position, the current and/or average speed of the vehicle, andthe like) and/or the real-time environmental data (i.e., current trafficalong the route, weather information including adverse weather, and thelike). The expected time of delivery may be updated on a real-time, nearreal-time or periodic basis. In addition, the visual cargo data maycomprise additional information such as vehicle's current or projectedroute deviation. Thereafter, the visual cargo application server isconfigured to contextualize the visual cargo data based on thecontextual data.

In one embodiment, the visual cargo data may be contextualized accordingto the roles of the end-user. For example, the visual cargo data may becontextualized with transporter related contextual data. In suchembodiment, the visual cargo data is contextualized based on thetransporter related contextual data including vehicle information such avehicle's schedule, location of the next cargo, number of vehiclesdeployed, vehicle performance information, driver performanceinformation, and the like. By placing the visual cargo data within thecontext of the transporter data, one or more aspects of the transporterdata and/or visual cargo data may be adjusted to produce acontextualized visual cargo data. For example, the contextualized visualcargo data may comprise a vehicle's schedule that is updated based onthe real-time vehicle data and the expected time of delivery informationfound in the visual cargo data. Furthermore, the contextualized visualcargo data may comprise driver performance information that is updatedbased on vehicle's current or projected route deviation, the averagespeed of the vehicle. Additionally, the contextualized visual cargo datamay comprise updated vehicle assignment information adjusted based onreal-time vehicle data and the expected time of delivery information,projected route, location of the next cargo and the like.

In another embodiment, the visual cargo data may be contextualized withconsignee related contextual data. In such embodiment, the visual cargodata is contextualized based on the consignee related contextual datacomprises stock information, billing information, order information andthe like. By placing the visual cargo data within the context of theconsignee data, one or more aspects of the consignee data and/or visualcargo data may be adjusted to produce a contextualized visual cargodata. For example, the contextualized visual cargo data may comprisestock information and/or billing information that is updated based onthe real-time vehicle data and the expected time of delivery informationfound in the visual cargo data. Furthermore, in an embodiment where theconsignee is not the final destination, the schedule for pick-up or nextdelivery may be updated based on the visual cargo data. Similarly, thevisual cargo data may be contextualized with consignor relatedcontextual data. It is further contemplated that various visual cargodata may be contextualized with various transporter, consignee, and/orconsignor contextual data to produce the contextualized visual cargodata.

It is contemplated that contextualized visual cargo data may be subjectto various rules, logic and the like. For example, in one embodiment,the contextualized visual cargo data that comprises driver performanceinformation that is updated based on the average speed of the vehicle,the driver performance information may be updated only if the averagespeed of the vehicle exceeds or falls below a threshold. In oneembodiment, the various rules, logic, and the like may be pre-configuredor they may be configured by the user.

At steps 261, 262, and 263, the contextualized visual cargo data arepresented to the end-users. Access to the contextualized visual cargodata are subject to user privilege, various security and encryptionprotocols.

If the user has transporter access privilege, at step 261, theconsignor-specific contextualized visual cargo data and/or theun-contextualized visual cargo data are presented to the consignor. Ifthe user has consignee access privilege, at step 262, consignee-specificcontextualized visual cargo data and/or the un-contextualized visualcargo data are presented to the consignee. Similarly, if the user hasconsignor access privilege, at step 263, transporter-specificcontextualized visual cargo data and/or the un-contextualized visualcargo data are presented to the transporter.

In one embodiment, the visual cargo data (the un-contextualized visualcargo data) and the contextualized visual cargo data may be presented tothe user via a user-interface. In one embodiment, the user-interface maybe configured as shown in FIGS. 3A-3B as described above. In anotherembodiment, the user-interface may be visual mimic of the real timemovement of a cargo being transported by vehicle. As seen in FIG. 5, theuser-interface is configured to indicate one or more exceptional eventsand/or various characteristics in the cargo transport with one or moreicons, labels and the like. For example, the icons may graphicallyindicate the type of the vehicle, which is exemplarily shown as a truckin FIG. 5. Other contemplated icons include various icons to graphicallyindicate relative position on the route, meteorological status along thetransport route, type of the cargo transported by the vehicle and thelike. Furthermore, the status of the cargo transport such as distance ofroute covered, balance distance from the destination, estimated deliverytime and the like may be graphically indicated. Also the icons maygraphically indicate the status of cargo movement such as on time ordelayed, and exceptional events such as over speeding, suddenacceleration, sudden deceleration and delivery to destination.

While the above is a complete description of the preferred embodimentsof the invention, various alternatives, modifications, and equivalentsmay be used. Therefore, the above description should not be taken aslimiting the scope of the invention which is defined by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method for managing acargo transaction, comprising: transmitting consignment data to a visualcargo server; tracking cargo status data of a vehicle transporting thecargo, wherein at least some of the cargo status data comprises datacollected from a GPS-enabled monitoring device; transmitting the cargostatus data via a wireless network to the visual cargo server, whereinthe visual cargo server integrates the consignment data and the cargostatus data to produce virtual cargo data; transmitting contextual datato the visual cargo server; providing context to the visual cargo databy integrating the virtual cargo data with the contextual data; andpresenting the contextualized data to a user.
 2. The computerimplemented method of claim 1, wherein the consignment data comprisesoriginating codes, geo-codes, designation codes, geo-codes of the cargo,departure time of the cargo or expected time of arrival of a cargo. 3.The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the consignment datacomprises cargo data and cargo identification data.
 4. The computerimplemented method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting real-timeenvironmental data to the visual cargo server.
 5. The computerimplemented method of claim 4, wherein the real-time environmental datacomprises one or more of traffic information, weather information, roadcondition, or incident information.
 6. The computer implemented methodof claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is a vehicle mounted device.7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, further comprisingobtaining real-time environmental data collected from one or moresensors disposed on the vehicle.
 8. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the cargo status data is transmitted to the visualcargo server via a fleet management server.
 9. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a cellular networksuch as a PSTN, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSPA, LTE, or WiMAXnetwork.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein thecontextual data are specific to a consignor, consignee or transporter.11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprisingalerting the user based on the visual cargo data.
 12. A computerimplemented method of managing a cargo transaction, comprising:transmitting consignment data to a visual cargo server; tracking cargostatus data of a vehicle responsible for delivering the cargo, whereinat least some of the cargo status data comprises data collected from aGPS-enabled monitoring device; transmitting the cargo status data via awireless network to the visual cargo server, wherein the visual cargoserver integrates the consignment data and the cargo status data toproduce virtual cargo data; transmitting the visual cargo data to acontextual server comprising contextual data, wherein the contextualserver is configured to provide a context to the virtual cargo data byintegrating the virtual cargo data with the contextual data; andpresenting the contextualized visual cargo data to a user.
 13. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the consignment datacomprises originating geo-codes, designation geo-codes of the cargo,departure time of the cargo or expected time of arrival of the cargo.14. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the contextualdata are specific to a consignor, consignee or transporter.
 15. A systemfor monitoring a cargo transaction, comprising: a visual cargo serverfor receiving real time location and cargo status information over awireless communication network; a monitoring device associated with thecargo, the device comprises: a processor for controlling operation ofthe device; a GPS circuit for receiving GPS data; and a wirelesscommunication modem and antenna in communication with the processor fortransmitting GPS location data to the visual cargo server; wherein thevisual cargo server is configured to obtain consignment data andintegrate said consignment data with the GPS data to produce a visualcargo data and to contextualize said visual cargo data with contextualdata.
 16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a contextual serverconfigured to transmit the contextual data to the visual cargo server.17. The system of claim 15, wherein the wireless communication modem andantenna is configured to interface with a cellular network such as aPSTN, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSPA, LTE, or WiMAX network.
 18. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the visual cargo server is configured totransmit the contextualized visual cargo data to one or more end-usedevices.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein the consignment datacomprises originating geo-codes, designation geo-codes of the cargo,departure time of the cargo or expected time of arrival of the cargo.